A Little Cough
by dragonbreath88
Summary: It all started with a little cough but quickly spiraled into something much worse. Whump!Cedric. three shot
1. Chapter 1

A little Cough part 1 

A little cough.

That's how it started. Something that was hindersome at first but not something to worry too much about. And although Cedric felt a little sore and exhausted when he woke up that morning, he decided to get up and push through it. Being a royal sorcerer didn't exactly mean he got a lot of vacation days. Besides it was probably just a little cold.

What more could he do except down a potion and push through the day?

At first, with only a slight sore throat and an even more slightly wet cough that just wouldn't leave him alone, Cedric muscled his way through the first few hours of the day. The potion he kept for such situations seemed to help him keep the coughs down to a minimum, so he went about his day without much thought of how he felt. He was a working machine, so by the time the clock announced the time at midday, he had gotten a lot done.

Unfortunately, it soon became clear that the potion was wearing off. His symptoms quickly returned with a vengeance, crashing down on him like a tidal wave. He had been in the middle of scribbling some notes in the margin of a spell book on a page about alchemy when his head exploded in pain. The suddenness in which it had happened had Cedric gasping in shock, dropping his quill as he struggled to keep himself steady on the stool. He clutched the sides of his desk when the world seemed to tilt dangerously to the right, making it all he could do to keep from falling over. When the room straightened, Cedric released his death grip on the wood and cradled his head, his vision blurring. It was then that his stomach decided to rage against him, forcing him to contend with clenching his teeth to keep form spewing his breakfast all over his work station and not pass out.

Everything spiraled even further downhill from there.

His nose became stuffed and no amount of incense or oil could unclog it, while his eyes started to water and burn. He started to feel sweaty, and yet, he shivered violently. His focus dwindled with each passing second.

Seeing how he wouldn't make much more progress feeling like a Pegasus had trampled him several times, Cedric was forced to a stopping point and lay down in his bed for the rest of the afternoon. He tried to shut his eyes for a nap, but sleep eluded him, just out of his reach. The pounding in his head was far too loud and painful, he couldn't breathe except through his mouth and every bone felt as though he had been rundown by a crazy Pegasus. The most he got was barely a light doze when someone purely _evil _started to bang on the door sometime around the late afternoon.

"Ugh…." He groaned. While the 'nap' had helped, Cedric still felt like he was dying. Not even bothering to sit up, he called, "Who is it?"

He felt as though someone had taken a cheese grater to his throat it hurt so bad. Every swallow seemed to send fire burning through his esophagus. And gods above he sounded pathetic. Cedric was worried that whoever was at the door didn't hear him.

But they did.

"Cedric?" _Oh gods, it's Baileywick. _"Cedric! King Roland requests your presence in the dining hall."

"Whaaaaaaat for?" Cedric knew he sounded like a petulant child, and very rude (not that was never an issue with him before) but he didn't care. He felt far too awful to even pretend to be civil.

"He wants you to perform for the guests!" The steward paused, before he assumed that Cedric hadn't moved an inch. Cedric winced as the steward pounded on the door before he added, "Don't be too long."

Cedric had half a mind to ignore the 'request' as he couldn't possibly do any party tricks with how badly he felt and how he could barely focus. But he knew the King would get angry, and as stated before, he was far from the mood to deal with that situation. Besides, on the brighter side of things, the quicker he got this over, the quicker he could sleep off whatever he contracted off.

With great difficulty, the sorcerer managed to drag himself out of the bed, down another potion (which he knew would be futile) and make his way towards the dining hall.

It took him far longer to get to the dining room than he anticipated. His body was sore and stiff, and it took far more effort to shuffle his feet across the floor. By the time he arrived he could feel the anger rolling off the King of Enchantia. But thank the Lord for his apprentice. The young princess Sofia had gone ahead and set up a space for him to do his spells.

Although, the thought of actually doing the spells without collapsing in the ground and dying never crossed his mind until he spotted the young girl.

Cedric, as he entered the dining hall, made a show of strutting across the floor. When he disappeared behind the curtain that separated him from the guests, he leaned heavily on the structure for support, his heart pounding heavily as his body started to dangerously heat up. He missed Sofia's worried look because the bright light of the chandelier wasn't helping the headache that was pounding at his cranium.

"Mr. Cedric? Are you alright?"

"Fine." He cleared his throat, feeling a little embarrassed at how weak he sounded. He repeated himself in a more firm and confident voice, "Fine. What exactly does your father wish for me to do?"

_Please don't be hard spells, please don't be hard spells, _he repeated in over and over in his mind.

He relaxed a little bit when Sofia listed off the relatively easy set of spells that wouldn't put him in the castle's infirmary. Most of them were minor party tricks, transformation of simple items, illusions and at the end (of course) indoor fireworks.

Cedric put on his best face when he was called and began his performance.

It was the slowest performance he had ever done. Each spell seemed to drain what little energy he had left. At one point, the room titled a bit and Cedric panicked for a second that he would completely pass out. To the sorcerer, it felt like an eternity.

But really, it was all over and done with within thirty minutes.

His arms felt like lead, his head swam and his vision blurred. His stomach tightened nauseatingly and his legs…..they felt like they were about to give out. He quickly retreated back behind the curtain as the royal family and the guests applauded. Cedric felt even worse than before, if that was even possible.

It hurt his chest to inhale, and his head pounded like it was being used as a percussion instrument by an overly enthusiastic toddler.

_Oh, it was a mistake to get out of bed, _Cedric thought ruefully. He didn't have the energy to be shocked at the fact that he would have to climb to get to his tower. He groaned as his stomach made known its displeasure.

Cedric felt like, for lack of a better word, complete and utter shit.

"Mr. Cedric?"

_Crap, _He thought. He tried to push himself from the table, to stand straight and reassure his apprentice that he was alright, but when he did so, the room wobbled dangerously. He forced his watery vision down to meet the worried blue eyes of the young princess.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Cedric winced at his slurred voice. Since when did his tongue get replaced with a ball of cotton? "Why'd you ask?"

"Well, you look really grey and-" the princess gasped, "Mr. Cedric!"

Somehow the room tilted just enough that Cedric lost his balance and fell. He stared up at the ceiling in confusion.

When did that happen?

A small, freezing cold hand was placed against his forehead but before he could enjoy the coolness that offset the heat that radiated off his body, it was yanked away. Someone was talking, reassuring him of something, calling for someone, but he couldn't hear. Everything sounded watery and distorted. His eyelids felt so heavy and he could sleep right there on the floor.

His vision was darkening anyway.

Cedric didn't have the energy to fight the exhaustion anymore and just sank into the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

A little cough pt. 2

Cedric hovered somewhere in that grey area of semi-consciousness, where he was sort of aware of what was going on around him but as soon as it processed, it slipped into the voids of the darkness, where it would be unrecoverable.

He tried to fight through the fog, but it took far too much energy to even flicker his eyes behind his burning eyelids.

Voices moved around him, floating in and out of his consciousness. He was far from being self-aware, except for the fact that his body weighed down like lead.

The only voices that pulled at his recognition were two that stayed by his side the most.

_What's wrong with him?_

_ I fear that it's the Sorcerer's Flu._

_ The flu?!_

_ Not just any flu, my dear princess. The Sorcerer's Flu eats away at a sorcerer's essence. It's critical that those who use magic not even pick up a wand or potion when they caught this, because it can be deadly._

There was a pause.

_I hope he's going to be okay._

_ He will, princess. I promise._

The voices remained quiet. Cedric allowed himself to fall back into the darkness of unconsciousness for the time being. He didn't know how long he was under, but he knew that at one point, dreams of the most horrific things he could think of started to play behind his mind's eye.

The King, also a giant illuminated by a low, ominous light, loomed over him, called him stupid and incompetent as a court sorcerer.

His apprentice, a giant that loomed ominously over her, drenched in shadows, laughed at him, disowning him as her friend, saying that he would never change.

His father appeared, declaring that he would never be a good sorcerer and was a failure of a son, a disgrace to the family name.

Cedric shook from fear as the dreams continued, denouncing the claims as they appeared. But they swirled forward like a vortex, dragging him downwards. He tried to push forward, but he was only dragged deeper and deeper into the nightmare. It suddenly became hard to breath and every breath he took was ragged and rattled his lungs. And despite himself, Cedric found himself sobbing in his sleep.

_Shhh, Cedric._

The voice was back, this person sounding…...older than he was, and comforting. Definitely a woman, though through the feverish haze, he couldn't tell who it was exactly. Though it was comforting to feel cold hands gently stroke his burning forehead and damp hair. He leaned into it heavily.

_Everything is going to be alright. I promise. Mummy is here, baby._

How did he not recognize the sounds of his own mother's voice?! Cedric thought in an almost crazed way. He hacked for a couple more minutes, unable to get air into his lungs. His mother whispered something and suddenly, he could breathe with relative ease.

Cedric floated in-between that grey-area once more before returning to the sweet, blissful unfeeling darkness.

The next time he regained only a shred of consciousness, he heard a whispered conversation, the voices sounding worried, hurried.

_His fever's gotten worse! _

_ I know, Princess. I'm trying my best, but blast it all, nothing's working, _His mother sounded like she was on the verge of crying.

Mummy, what's wrong? Cedric wanted to ask. He didn't like it when his mother was upset.

_Is there anything we can do? _

_ Oh I don't know! _There was silence, but not true silence. The sound of pages being rustled, flipped through with frantic speed. _What was Cedric doing before he collapsed?_

_ He did a couple of party tricks, uh….._ The younger voice rattled off a list of spells that Cedric didn't seem to catch. It was all too far away.

_Simple party tricks indeed, _His mother all but spat. _Was he showing any signs earlier?_

_ I don't know! I mean, he did look a little ill before he started the tricks. I don't know how he was feeling before. I was busy. _There was the sound of sobbing. _I should've been paying better attention! Oh this is all my fault!_

_ Oh, Sofia. It's not your fault. _His mother sounded as though she was comforting the owner of the young-sounding voice, which sounded like she was crying. _It's not Cedric's fault either. Only his stubbornness, which I'm afraid he inherited from his father and I. We'll find out how to fix him. I promise. Now, I need your help._

Cedric floated for the longest time, feeling worse than he had ever did in the past however-long-had-passed. His breathing was slowing down drastically. Cedric tried to keep getting air into his lungs, mentally telling himself _'In, out. In, out. In, out. In, out.' _But it continued to become harder and harder.

The voices couldn't be heard anymore, but he could hear the briefest sound of rustling papers and someone rushing through his tower. There was the sound of someone grinding something and the warmth of someone boiling something over a fire. He could feel someone place a cloth, soaked with cold water, on his forehead and a poultice under his pillow that eased the complications on his breathing, only just a bit though.

_Just hang in there, Ceddy. _The motherly voice soothed, gently but barely holding back tears. _Sofia will be back in half a tick. Just hang in there. _

Much too tired to hang on, and feeling himself slipping further and further from even the barest hint of consciousness, Cedric let go. He sunk further into the unfeeling darkness.

He didn't know if he would have the strength to resurface again or ever wake up.

X

Winifred the Wise woke the next morning when she felt something wet smack her arms.

She stirred, her eyes blinking open blearily. The elder sorceress sat up, stretching the kinks out of her back that had accumulated over the few days that she had slept near her son, through fear that he would pass during the night. He had been so feverish and at one point, Winifred the Wise prepared herself to wake up to find her son to not breathing and all too still.

This was the first night that she had slept through the entirety, mostly because the exhaustion and emotional turmoil was far too much for the old woman to handle. As she woke slowly, fear coiled in her stomach. Winifred had dozed off while her son was suffering from a very high fever, and the possibility of him dying was still very, very high.

Winifred's heart all but stopped in her chest as her eyes immediately zeroed in on Cedric. A small wave of relief had her sagging a bit when she realized that her son was breathing still, a little easier upon a closer look too. The woman placed her hand over his son's forehead, a sob escaping her as Winifred that his fever had finally broken.

The herbs that Sofia had brought back had worked.

For the first time in days, Winifred stood, her bone protesting loudly at the action, and quickly made her way towards the sleeping princess. The brunette ran herself into the ground trying to research the herbs and going to get them from a distant land that was, at best, a three-week journey.

Somehow, someway, the young princess had been gone all of two days, with enough of the herbs needed to get the fever down to last them for the next few months if they were ever needed.

"Sofia." Winifred whispered, gently shaking the princess awake. It took her a couple times, but the young princess eventually blinked her big blue eyes opened. Upon seeing Winifred standing over her, she shot up straight with worry.

"Is Mr. Cedric…..?" she asked, trailing off and unable to finish.

"No dear." Winifred stated gently, relief and tears gleaming in her eyes. "He's perfectly fine. His fever has finally broke."

Sofia's eyes glittered with happiness tears as she embraced the older sorceress with a tight hug. The two of them had been basically on edge for the two weeks that Cedric had been incapacitated with the Sorcerer's Flu, a disease that from the research the two had done had a very high mortality rate. The fear that they felt as they did everything within their power to keep Sofia's mentor and Winifred's son alive was absolutely crippling.

Though the relief that the two had felt at that moment helped them to breath just a little bit better.

"What do we do know? Will he wake up soon?" the young princess asked in rapid succession. Winifred gently shushed the young girl to make sure she didn't accidentally wake Cedric up, knowing that now with his fever broken, he would sleep easier.

"He'll wake up when he's ready, princess." Winifred whispered to the young girl. "But he'll wake up. Cedric will have a long recovery ahead of him, but I know that you'll be there for him."

Sofia smiled up at the older sorceress. Yes, she would be there for her friend.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I honestly wasn't sure of how to end this since this was something of a blurb. Thanks to those who reviewed (ya;ll are awesome) and favored/followed.  
**

A little cough 3

Cedric was, with the help of his Mother and Princess Sofia, able to recover one month after falling sick.

The severity of the fever had left him severely weakened. He wasn't able to hold a lot down, so he had practically wasted away while he was fighting for his life. His mother told him that all he could 'eat' was liquid-y soup that didn't equate to much in the way of food, and even though he couldn't keep that down.

Cedric was basically skin and bones and had to work his way, slowly, to eating solid food. It also didn't help that he was bedridden for a long time, as he the fever sapped all of his strength for such a long time, and his muscles had atrophied. He had gone through weeks upon weeks of physical therapy and re-learning how to walk again.

It had hard, and he wouldn't have been able to do it without his family and Princess Sofia. They had helped him in his laboratory, helping him move back up to his bedroom after the physicians had told him that he was fine to do so. Sofia had been especially helpful when his parents had left, saying that there were things that needed their attention. The young princess had helped feed him when he would hit some bad days and was too weak to get out of the bed. While most people would look down at him with pity or sadness, Sofia looked at him hopefully, knowing in an optimistic way, that only kids like her believed, Cedric would get better eventually if he worked at it.

And work at it he did.

There were good days and bad days, of course. On bad days, which was when the weather shifted too quickly or during the pinnacle of winter, Cedric was far too weak to even sit up in his bed and needed the Princess to help him around his tower. She would busy herself with cleaning up the place, making potions and performing any spells on the chance that Cedric's bad fell on a party or massive event the King was holding. It became clear that soon, Sofia would surpass him as a sorcerer. While he was happy that the young girl was bettering herself and evolving into a better sorcerer that he never was, he was a little sad that he might be ousted from his position as the Royal Sorcerer.

He told his apprentice this one evening when she was helping him eat his beef and vegetable stew.

She just gave him a small, innocent smile. "Don't worry Mr. Cedric. I could never take your job away from you! You'll get your strength back, I promise!"

Cedric smiled back and ate his stew, feeling almost a thousand times better.


End file.
